GEESE 



that thrilling work, Syllabus of the Fish and 

 Game Regulations. 



So adept have I become at simulating the 

 signs of overwork that seldom am I denied a 

 hunting trip to save my tottering health. 

 Mind you, I do not advocate deceit. I abhor 

 hypocrisy in the home, and I merely recount 

 my own method of procedure for the benefit of 

 such fellow huntsmen as are married and may 

 be in need of first aid. 



I was suffering the ravages of suppressed 

 desires, common to my kind, when, several 

 autumns ago, a friend told me about a form of 

 wild-goose shooting in vogue on the outer 

 shoals of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, and 

 utterly stampeded my processes of orderly 

 thought. 



"They use rolling blinds on the sand bars," 

 he told me. "They put down live decoys, a 

 couple hundred yards away, then, when the 

 geese come in, they roll the blind up to them." 



I assured him that his story was interesting 

 but absurd. Having hunted Canada honkers, 

 I knew them to be suspicious birds, skeptical 

 of the plainest circumstantial evidence and 

 possessed of all the distrust of an income-tax 

 examiner. 



3 



